The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says the massive increase in the fuel price is another huge blow to the already struggling working class.
The Labour Federation says it expects government to act decisively in alleviating poverty as
the cost of living escalates.
The price of petrol has gone up by more than R1 for all grades.
Diesel has seen an increase of between R1.93 and R1.96 per litre and illuminating paraffin by R1.51 per litre.
Cosatu’s Mathew Parks says government is squeezing the poorest of the poor.
“We appreciate that there is not much government can do about the cause of the increase in the fuel prices that’s basically the international oil price volatility which happens time and again because of the war in Ukraine or other contracts in the Middle- East.”
“But it has a huge impact on people. We had a R2 litre increase last month, now we’ve had another one this month, petrol is about R27 a litre now. We’ve also seen because of that the inflation spiking at about 7.8% earlier this year. Food inflation has gone up and workers have also been hit hard by the increase in electricity tariffs. So, it really is making it very difficult for people to survive,” adds Parks.
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Civil society organisation, the People Against Petrol and Paraffin Price Increases (PAPPI) says the higher-than-expected fuel increase is catastrophic for all South Africans.
PAPPI Chairperson Visvin Reddy says, “This is certainly the last straw, in fact, it’s catastrophic for every South African- what is happening. This is the third consecutive increase in fuel prices in South Africa- which brings fuel prices to the highest it’s ever been in recorded history.”
He adds: “I think it spells disaster for every South African- irrespective of whether you’re a motorist and own a car or not. What we need to understand is that when fuel prices go up especially the price of diesel, it means that food prices, the cost of living, everything goes up.”
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